Tears
by Annabeth's Sister
Summary: Oneshot. Sally/Poseidon. Sally's at Montauk, lonely and crying. A man, calling himself Poseidon, tells her that salty years should not mix with the salt of the ocean. The ocean is for renewing happiness. And he definitely renews her happiness. T for angst and romance. This is different from the typical Percabeth I write… and I churned it out at 1 AM. So… sorry if it sucks.
1. Terrible AN (that I forgot to post)

Oh. my. gosh.

I hate to be so blunt about this to all my fanfiction readers, but I'd better say this straight:

I'm not going to be doing fanfiction anymore. ever.

The explanation: My family decided that we were all "addicted to technology", so we have set up a household renunciation of screens except for work and school.

Which means I don't get my iPod at all.

Which means no fanfiction.

My parents set the password of my iPad so that my sister and I can't unlock it, but it happened to be unlocked and this is probably the last night of unlimited iPod (and fanfiction) use for a long time, and I've got to use the time to tell uou guys and explain.

I can still check my email, (fifteen minutes a day) so I can see your reviews and favorites and follows (they make me smile), so don't hesitate to leave reviews anyways.

Once in a while, I might be able to go onto fanfiction for a short update to Percabeth Drabbles, but… rarely.

I am horrified to be delivering such news on such a pleasant time as 1 day after Percy's birthday, but I'm on fanfiction today and today only.

Fortunately, I didn't startpublishing Son of Colors yet, since each chapter has a cliffhanger ending and it would be torturous if you didn't read that for a long time. :)

But I will sill work on Son of Colors, and when it's done I'll publish it.

I am so sorry about this, but I needed to tell you...

Ratt


	2. Tears

**Hi readers! I've snuck my iPod into bed, and this came out of it.**

**I was listening to Halo by Beyonce while writing this, so listening to this might set the mood a bit. Or not.**

**I didn't reread the beginning of Lightning Thief, so pardon me if I've got anything wrong. Sorry.**

**Here goes:**

* * *

"I deserve a break," Sally Jackson mutters to herself. "I deserve this. This was meant for me."

But she feels like she's stealing Uncle's visit to Montauk. But Uncle's _dead_. And he said she could go, since he never could.

But she can't help but feel guilty.

"I deserve a _break_," she whispers to herself, choking back her guilty tears. "I deserve a break from all this angst and death and life and—"

She finally breaks down, sobbing, at the beautiful beach, on the beautiful sand, where a young girl should _not_ be crying.

But she's crying, crying her heart out, because she has nowhere to go and she's so desperately _alone_ in this world.

And she's in Montauk. For a _break_.

She sits on the sand for a long time, her head in her hands, staring out at the ocean blankly, and she doesn't hear any footsteps behind her, she doesn't hear the worn popping of knees as he bends to her height.

But she hears his voice, so warm and kind and _perfect_ that she thinks she's imagining it.

"What's a beautiful woman like you sitting on the beach crying about?"

She shrugs helplessly. "I was thinking the same thing," she says, and in the middle, her voice breaks. "I don't know," she whispers, the tears falling. "I wish I knew."

Her composure finally breaks, and she rests her hands to her face and sobs.

Her imagined savior pats her shoulder kindly, and she involuntarily turns to him and buries herself into his arms, and he tenses for a moment before he wraps his arms around her and lets her cry.

"The oath," she hears the man created by her mind murmur to himself. "remember the oath, fool."

He's stroking her back as she sobs, and all she thinks is that her mind has some use after all, other than to give her guilt and grief and angst; it creates someone to save her.

When she quiets, she's about to look up at the face of her savior, her imagination or not, but before she can move, he's gone, fading to the wind, and all she can remember of him is his voice. His beautiful, warm, perfect voice that she wishes her mind can create once more.

* * *

The next morning, Sally sits out at the sand once more, her knees folded against her chest, her arms cradling them; this time she's admiring the ocean, the crashing waves, the smell of salt in the air, the wind blowing her hair around her face.

She closes her eyes, and suddenly remembers—

_Him_.

"_What's a beautiful woman like you sitting on the beach crying about?"_

Her eyes shoot open.

She stands up.

She turns around.

He's _there_.

"Could you feel my presence?" he asks in that rough, warm, perfect voice, and she shakes her head.

Is he really her imagination? Her mind wouldn't be this kind and cruel at once, giving her this perfect human but saying "this isn't real".

"My name is Poseidon," he says, extending his hand. "You seemed in need of a shoulder to cry on. I cannot tolerate seeing people reduced to tears in my realm; the sea is a place for beauty and majesty. The salt of tears does not deserve to mix with the salt of the ocean."

"I— my name is Sally Jackson," she whispers, shaking his hand. "I'm sorry for disgracing the ocean."

He laughs, then, a loud, hearty laugh that makes her smile despite her feeling terrible.

"You have not disgraced the ocean! You have only given yourself a reason to prevent those tears from falling from your cheeks. The ocean is a place for renewed happiness, and you will renew your happiness before you leave here, I swear on the River Styx."

Thunder seems to boom in the distance.

Poseidon smiles, reaching his hand out once more. "Come. Experience the joys of the world once more."

* * *

The only thing she can do as they walk throughout the area is look at him.

His face has a sort of ageless quality to it; suggesting he could be twenty-five or fifty.

She hopes the former.

So she asks him, how old is he?

He answers, with a small look into her eyes, that he's twenty-eight, only one year over her, and she knows her mind is torturing her. This man cannot be real.

"Ah, that is where your mind is wrong," he says, "I am real. As real as your Uncle, or your parents." he turns to her.

She looks up at Poseidon. "How— how did you know about my family?"

"I take it upon myself to understand people before I meet them." he smiles, a mysterious smile that gets her wondering, who is he really? How does he know?

"I— thank you," she whispers," for… all this. For everything. For helping me be happy."

He smiles, his sea-green eyes twinkling. "There is nothing I wouldn't do for you, Sally Jackson."

* * *

She meets him every day, and he asks her about her— her parents, her dreams, her wishes…

She asks him about his family once— he had said that he had two brothers and two sisters— and a terrible father— and he said nothing more.

No names. No pasts. Nothing.

Whenever he starts to open up to Sally, he just as soon shuts her out, saying nothing but asking her of her friends and ambitions and her fantasies.

Then one day, she asks him why he's named after a Greek god, and he's about to say something, but he stops. He thinks for a second, and his sea green eyes have an emotion in them that she doesn't know—

Just as suddenly, he says, "I wasn't named for a Greek god."

The words take a second for her to understand.

As soon as she understands, everything hits her.

_His "realm"._

_The ocean._

_Poseidon._

_The River Styx._

_Two brothers._

_Zeus._

_Hades._

_Two sisters._

_Hestia._

_Demeter_.

Poseidon.

_The Greek god of the sea_.

As soon as she understands who he is, he is gone.

She falls to her knees in her cabin.

Everything she had seen as a child— the odd people— shimmering in purple light— monsters— it was all real.

_Poseidon_.

"Poseidon," she whispers.

But he doesn't hear her.

He's gone.

* * *

The next day, Poseidon does not come.

Sally is lonely, for the first time in nearly a month, and she wades to mid-calf in the water and cries, once more.

He shimmers to existence in front of her, slowly appearing with the ocean breeze.

Fifteen feet tall, he carries a trident in one hand. He looks older, white speckled in his beard, but he looks down at her with an odd emotion in his sea-green eyes.

"I once told you, Sally Jackson, that the salt of tears dare not mix with the salt of the ocean." his voice booms, but as soon as he is finished speaking, he shrinks, until he is as he used to be, and he wipes a tear from her cheek ever-so-gently with his thumb.

His face is so close as he says, "I expect the tears to stop immediately. The ocean is a place for happiness."

The only thing that's running through her mind as he moves closer is _can you kiss a god? Can a god kiss a mortal? Can he—_

As soon as Poseidon's lips are on hers, the only thought replacing her former questions is the answer: _Yes, mortals and gods can kiss, yes they can yes they can yes they can yes they can yes they can!_

Her arms wind around his neck as their lips move in harmony, he takes her waist in his hands and pulls her to her toes; the current, most likely fueled by his emotions, swirls and froths around them, and Sally breaks away with a sigh.

"How long have you wanted to do that?" she asks gently.

Poseidon chuckles darkly. "So long," he murmurs hoarsely. "And I want to do it again."

So he pulls his lips to hers and Sally can feel nothing but fire and water.

It takes her a second to notice that she's underwater. And she's dry.

"Don't let go of me," he whispers as they descend slowly.

"I won't," Sally whispers back, and Poseidon pulls her in for another kiss, and another, and another, and then another, and suddenly, he's not kissing her on her lips anymore. Then his hands move over her in ways she couldn't imagine.

All she feels is love; she can't get enough.

"I have loved you since I set eyes on you," he whispers, and Sally murmurs agreement. "I have loved you since before I saw you for the first time," she counters.

He smiles.

* * *

Later, Poseidon tells her about the Oath. About the three gods' decision to have no more children, and Sally listens quietly.

"My love, you realize… I am an immortal. I must leave you one day."

Sally nods, blinking back tears. "I know. But I want you to stay."

"I do too," he strokes her arms gently, and Sally shivers. "How will I remember you?" she asks.

"I— I'll come visit you," he tries.

"You know you can't do that," she whispers, tracing his cheek gently with her fingers.

"Why don't you—" he pushes her gently down onto the bed. "Remember me this way?"

* * *

He's next to her in the morning, unlike most days.

"Sally." he strokes a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Thank you," she whispers, smiling up at him.

"I'll love you forever," he says, holding her face to his bare chest, "and I will, I promise you."

"I have to go back to Manhattan today," Sally whispers, nearly in tears.

"Don't cry, my pet," Poseidon whispers, "the ocean is no place for tears."

Sally smiles. "I will miss you more than life itself."

"I believe you," he says.

* * *

She's about to get into the car. Poseidon had left already.

"Poseidon!" she cries. She has to see his face one last time.

"Poseidon!"

"I am here," he says, but his voice sounds different.

Sally turns. Poseidon's eyes are bloodshot, he's sniffling, and tears are dripping from his cheeks. He spreads his arms, and Sally runs into them, letting her tears fall at last.

"I said that— that tears are not fit to mix with the ocean," Poseidon sniffles, "but I was wrong. Tears— tears are worth it. Worth love." he buries his face into Sally's neck.

"I love you— so _much_ that I cry," he whispers.

"I— Poseidon—" Sally mutters.

"I cannot bear to see you leave," he says, wiping tears from his cheeks. "But I know I will. I can see it. I will see you again. I don't know whether you will love me anymore, whether you— whether you will have a different man with you."

Sally gives Poseidon a look of sympathy.

"Find a father figure soon, though," Poseidon starts in a rush, as though he's nervous to tell Sally. "One that is so human that— he can hide the smell of… the child."

Sally should be shocked.

But she smiles when Poseidon looks up, worry in his eyes.

"I've given her a terrible fate," he says. "She'll suffer, because I'm her father."

"It's a girl?" Sally asks.

Poseidon smiles. "I don't know. I think so."

Sally narrows her eyes. "It's a boy. I can sense it."

"Besides," she continues, "I need someone to remember you by. A girl will be harder. I hope he has your eyes. And your hair."

Poseidon smiles. "Name him— or her— after a hero who lived happily. At least try to give him or her a shred of luck. Because he or she won't have any being my child." Poseidon smiles.

"The ocean," Sally starts, "is for renewing happiness."

Poseidon looks confused.

"We did just that, didn't we?"

* * *

**What the heck. My mind. Just comes up with stuff.**

**This was way OOC, but it's 1:00 AM. Give me a bit of credit.**

**I don't know how this existed, how much of this is actually canon…**

**If I may say so myself, this is kinda stupid, but… thanks for reading anyways.**


	3. YES I AM BACK

YES. IT IS I. I have just a bit (actually a lot, yay!) of time on the net, and I was rereading my fanfics— _ugh!_ they were terribly written! (At least in my opinion, and based on how I'm writing now.)

So I'm taking the oneshots (the multishots I'll do last, if I've got time) and I'm fixing them, making them better. Both my multishot fics, Starbucks and Texting, and Owl-Eye Glasses, are weird and TERRIBLY written, and it'll take me a LONG WHILE to fix those. I might even have to rewrite.

Just to let you guys know, I'm concentrating more on my own writing now, not fanfiction anymore. I want to write something that I can actually get published somewhere… :P So yeah. I'll still be able to respond to PM's and read reviews and I'll maybe update occasionally if I have the sweetest idea.

Anyways. Hope you enjoy. Here's the revised version of this fic

**Ratt**


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